Art for the new millennium-ii001222.html

Art for the new millennium
A traveling exhibit celebrates the diverse visions
of Illinois women artists

THE SOUTHERN REGION

Sarah Capps
Awakening

watercolor

They paint. They draw. They sculpt. They assemble. They use watercolor or a computer or bronze or graphite or sparkling jewel-like beads. They live in Chicago, Charleston, Champaign or maybe Murphysboro, Mahomet or Mt. Vernon.

They are the women chosen to participate in "Illinois Women Artists: The New Millennium," a traveling exhibition now at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield. The show was first exhibited last year at the Illinois Art Gallery in Chicago and then the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Initially, more than 1,100 entries were submitted by 411 artists. After splitting the work into four geographic regions, six judges narrowed the field to 99 pieces. Art critic Clare Henry of The Herald in Glasgow, Scotland, then made the final selection of 50 pieces.

The resulting show includes "almost all possible variations in style, form, subject matter and media — from realism to surrealism, figurative to abstract expressionism, two-dimensional work and sculpted forms," in the words of judge Isobel Neal. Her commentary appears in the exhibition catalogue put together by The Illinois Committee for the National Museum of Women in the Arts and distributed by the University of Illinois Press.

Judge Margot McMahon calls the selections "diverse, thoughtful and provocative."

Whether a piece of art was "worth remembering" was art critic Henry's major criterion for judging which artworks should be included in the show.

"Some images stay in your mind, lodge themselves in your psyche. Somehow these images matter. They have conviction, integrity, sincerity — call it what you will," Henry writes in her essay on the selections. "One does not have to like them, but somehow these images have a

22 December 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues

Annelies Heijnen
The Chicken and the Egg

clay

Sue Stotlar
Good Times

pastel

power, carry an impact. They ring true. The artist has carried out her initial idea, not just with professionalism and skill, but with that added and indefinable something that speaks to you, touches you."

The exhibit will appear at the State Museum through January 28. From February 19 through April 22 it will appear at the Rockford Art Museum. The exhibit will be at the Parkland Art Gallery in Champaign May 17 through June 22 and will finish its run July 13 through August 17 at the Quincy Arts Center.

Some of the images in the exhibit, organized by region, appear on the next several pages.

THE CENTRAL REGION

Jamie Kruidenier
Carpe Diem

casein on rice paper

Cindy Smith
Woman

limestone